8 Steps to Simplifying Your Closet
If you haven’t cleaned out your closet lately, it’s time to get started. Back-to-school sales are just around the corner, and that means clothes for everyone will be marked down. Here are some quick tips for clearing your closet and simplifying your wardrobe.
- Catch up on laundry! It’s hard to purge your closet when a bunch of it is in a hamper or in the washing machine.
- Start by pulling out anything you don’t love, don’t wear or doesn’t fit. Pull out anything that has stains, holes or rips or that needs to be altered in any way. If you haven’t worn it in a year or two, take it out.
- Bag up the discards and put them by the door to drop off for charity. Bag up anything that needs to be altered or repaired and make plans to take it to the tailor or fix it yourself in the next week. Anything that’s dirty or stained needs to be laundered or dry cleaned this week as well.
- For the clothes left in your closet, turn all the hangers around backward (so the open part faces you). As you wear items, turn the hangers back the right way. In just a few weeks, you’ll be able to tell at a glance what clothes you wear and which ones you don’t (so a second purge may be in order!)
- Arrange the clothes by category — pants, shirts, skirts, dresses, etc. If you want, you can divide them further by sleeve length and color.
- Keep a running list of items you need to fill in your wardrobe. Then you can keep an eye out for the perfect piece while you’re shopping and avoid frantic trips to the mall later.
- Repeat the above steps for any clothing you have in drawers or storage boxes, plus shoes and handbags. It’s also good to go through this process every time the weather changes for the season, especially if you rotate storage with out-of-season clothes.
- After just one or two purges, your closet will be more streamlined, and this process will be easier each time you do it. Getting dressed in the morning will be a lot simpler!
